Functional Analysis of MaWRKY24 in Transcriptional Activation of Autophagy-Related Gene 8f/g and Plant Disease Susceptibility to Soil-Borne Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense

摘要

WRKYs play important roles in plant development and stress responses. Although have been comprehensively identified in the banana ( ), their in vivo roles and direct targets remain elusive. In this study, a transcript profile analysis indicated the common regulation of transcripts in response to fungal pathogen f. sp. ( ). Among these , was chosen for further analysis due to its higher expression in response to . The specific nucleus subcellular location and transcription activated activity on W-box indicated that was a transcription factor. The correlation analysis of gene expression indicated that were closely related to autophagy-associated genes ( ). Further analysis showed that directly regulated the transcriptional level of through binding to W-box in their promoters, as evidenced by quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), dual luciferase assay, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. In addition, overexpression of and resulted in disease susceptibility to , which might be related to the activation of autophagic activity. This study highlights the positive regulation of in transcriptional activation of autophagy-related gene in the banana and their common roles in disease susceptibility to soil-borne , indicating the effects of on autophagy and disease susceptibility.